Definition
Magento Open Source is the free, self-hosted commerce platform formerly called Magento Community Edition. Adobe Commerce is the licensed commercial version, formerly Magento Enterprise, with added features (B2B, advanced merchandising, Adobe Stock integration, Page Builder content blocks, premium support, cloud hosting option). Both share the same underlying code base; Adobe Commerce adds modules on top.
What Magento Open Source includes
Full catalog management, multi-store and multi-language, standard checkout, customer accounts, order management, discounts and promotions, content management, default Magento email engine, REST and GraphQL APIs, the Luma frontend theme (or Hyvä if you license it). Self-hosted, no recurring licence fee.
What Adobe Commerce adds
B2B features (companies, shared catalogs, quote requests, customer-specific pricing), advanced merchandising (product rules engine, customer segments, banners), Page Builder content blocks (drag-and-drop content creation), Adobe Stock integration, premium support SLA, and the option of Adobe Commerce Cloud (managed hosting). Licensed annually based on gross merchandise value.
Which one you need
Most B2C stores under £20M annual revenue can run Magento Open Source successfully. The Adobe Commerce licence becomes worthwhile at higher revenue when the B2B features, premium support, or specific functionality (Page Builder, Adobe Stock) justify the cost. Hyvä works equally well on both.
Keep reading